December 16, 2024 // Bishop

Bishop Shares Synod Experiences with ND Theology Students

Paula Lent

On Thursday, December 5, the University of Notre Dame’s Master of Divinity program (known colloquially as the “M.Div” program) hosted “Reflections from a Synod Delegate: A Conversation with Bishop Kevin Rhoades” at the university’s Jordan Hall of Science. Open to all faculty and graduate students from the theology department, the event provided a unique opportunity to hear Bishop Rhoades’ reflections from his experience participating in the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality. 

Rhoades was one of five bishops elected by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops  (USCCB) to represent the U.S. Church as a delegate.

“I’m still recovering from the synod, by the way,” Bishop Rhoades said candidly in his opening remarks. “It was a wonderful experience, but also quite a lot of work. Being a delegate was both a blessing and a challenge.”

He continued: “It was definitely a challenge being away from the diocese for a whole month,” he said, further noting that the task itself was “heavy work” and followed a rigorous schedule: “We worked six days a week. And it was the Italian style, so we were working from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., then we had a break, and then we worked from 4-7:30 p.m.” 

But participating in the synod offered Bishop Rhoades a unique experience of the universal Church, as it brought together more than 350 voting delegates from around the world. 

“Really, it was a blessing to serve the universal Church in this way and to get to know the delegates from around the world,” Bishop Rhoades said. “That was really my favorite part, both last year and this year, was making friends and acquaintances, bishops and other delegates from so many different countries, and we still stay in touch, which is great. And learning about the life of the Church in many different countries on every continent.”

Bishop Rhoades was candid in his reflections on the overall synod process, sharing with the Notre Dame theologians, “I noticed a lot of improvements from the first session to the second session,” and noting that the second was “much more focused this time on the synod’s theme of synodality.” 

“That first session, we were all over the place,” Bishop Rhoades reflected. “It was impossible to deal with all those issues at the synod. So, there was some neglect, I would say, in October 2023 of the principal theme of the synod – synodality – because all these other issues came up. So, I really appreciated this past October that we had a clear focus.”

Overall, Bishop Rhoades was pleased with the synod’s final document, entitled, “For a Synodal Church: Communion Participation Mission,” calling it “a major improvement over earlier documents from the synod secretariat, and over the synthesis report from the first session.” 

“I was a bit surprised by this improvement and happy with this serious incorporation into the document of our synod discussions and interactions,” he said. 

However, he was frank that there is nonetheless still room for improvement.

“Now, there are a few other issues about the process I’d like to mention, especially so that we can learn from these issues to improve the synodal process,” he told the Notre Dame theologians. “For example, though the final week was much better this year than last year, it wasn’t quite as rushed, there were still some issues. After more than 1,000 suggested amendments from the working groups were proposed … the relaters for the final document incorporated those which seemed common among the amendments proposed into the final document. Unfortunately, I presume for reasons of time, there was no opportunity for interventions regarding these amendments. Because this was done in the last few days, all we could do was vote up or down on every paragraph. All paragraphs ended up receiving the necessary votes and were approved. There was a fatigue factor here. Some paragraphs received a significant number of negative votes – not many paragraphs, but some – showing that there wasn’t truly a consensus. I think that changes could have been made to those paragraphs if there had been an opportunity for discussion leading to a better consensus.” 

But emphasizing that, overall, he was pleased with the final document, Bishop Rhoades noted in particular that “the theology is improved, in my opinion. Much improved. It’s more scriptural, more trinitarian. … There’s more Christology – that was a point that I thought was very weak in the other document. Still very pneumatological, but it’s in a balanced way, a clearer way, since it’s not a pneumatology separated from Christology, which is not true pneumatology. And it all leads to a better ecclesiology.”

Bishop Rhoades highlighted various sections of the document to the Notre Dame theologians. “There was this consensus that we expand opportunities or possibilities for participation and for the exercise of differentiated responsibility. That was mentioned a lot, differentiated responsibility by all the baptized,” he said of the desire to support the variety of charisms and ministries in the Church. “There was a consensus that we encourage more forms of lay ministries, which could be instituted lay ministries.” 

He also pointed out that “there was special mention of the participation of women, of youth, of the disabled, and others,” while also adding that “our October assembly, very early on, noticed in the working document there was a lot of attention to the role of women in the Church. You wouldn’t know that there were lay men that are involved in the Church. It was priests and women,” and so it was adjusted accordingly. 

Notre Dame’s Master of Divinity program is notable for forming both lay and religious together, and Bishop Rhoades highlighted that component of the program when speaking of another element of the document, saying: “There was a call also for more lay participation in the formation of priests, which is done here at Notre Dame. I think it’s very helpful.” 

Bishop Rhoades shared that he was pleased that the final document shows “greater attention to the Sacrament of Holy Orders. What had been a rather imbalanced ecclesiology, in my opinion, almost exclusively baptismal ecclesiology, almost exclusively focused on the teaching of Chapter 2 of Lumen Gentium, is now more balanced with the
fuller treatment of Church teaching in the whole Constitution, Lumen Gentium, including Chapter 3 on the Hierarchical Constitution of the Church.” He later said further, “I’d say this document had a more positive presentation of the ordained while still condemning, rightfully, clericalism.” 

Ultimately, Bishop Rhoades reflected, “I think the text is more visionary. It provides better theological and spiritual foundations for the idea of synodality.” 

“Notice the aim of the mission,” Bishop Rhoades said, after reading from Paragraph 30 of the final document. “The
end is not synodality. Synodality is not an end in itself. It’s a means. It’s oriented toward mission. To evangelize is the essential mission of the Church, not to be synodal.”

The next step is the implementation phase, which will play out in parishes and dioceses.

“It’s going to take some time,” Bishop Rhoades said of this phase. “I think the way it’s going to happen is through the dioceses. … First of all, we need more education of our priests. And I’m going to be talking to them in our next presbyterate meeting, kind of teaching them more, but I really think that to have the experience through the diocesan synodal process before all the consultation process, and this is really going to be oriented toward the diocesan pastoral plan, and to really look at how we can be more effective in our mission … what are the priorities? You know, we have some really good things going on with youth and adult ministry, we have a strong Catholic school system, but I want everyone to kind of get their thoughts. Like, where does the Church in our diocese need to grow and become more vibrant? And I do see a lot of differences. I see vibrant parishes, and I see not vibrant parishes. And so, I think we have to look and face those things. … Where do we want to put more of our energy, more of our resources? So, I think people will get engaged when they hear this. I think priests need to animate the people from the homily or at Mass about participating. … I think [the people] could get really excited about participating.” 

Following his reflections, Bishop Rhoades took time to answer questions from the theologians. One participant reflected: “I really like your comment [that] Synod is a means to an end, which is a variation of ‘the Church is mission.’ At the same time, the way we conduct ourselves – you practice what you preach – we are already proclaiming the Gospel in the way we function as a community in terms of discernment, in terms of order, ministries, and so on.” The attendee then asked, “What kind of points were made about that – that in fact synodality is a mode of being that actually models and makes credible the evangelization which is the end of synodality?”  

Bishop Rhoades responded: “I think that did come out. The way it came out, I would say, is that the Church should be an example in a polarized world of how to deal with disagreements, how to respectfully listen to one another. … The Church should be exemplary: We respect other people’s opinions; we listen. … We don’t condemn. … I think that was very evident. I think it comes out in the final document, if I’m not mistaken.”

“There are also areas in the Church where this isn’t happening, and that it needs to happen – a more synodal approach,” Bishop Rhoades continued. “Examples of places where there is infighting and polarization within the Church, and the inability of people, or unwillingness of people, to listen to one another peacefully, serenely, prayerfully. So, yeah, I think it’s a call – it should be our normal way, as you said, the normal way of how we live as a Church in a parish.” 

In response to another question, Bishop Rhoades also shared how participating in the synod on synodality has already made a difference in the way that he envisions communal discernment going forward – in particular, it taught him the importance of taking time to stop and pray while making decisions.

“It just made me much more attuned to how I make decisions. … I think one thing I learned is we weren’t praying enough in our different bodies, in our discernment process. Whereas at the synod, when you stop after a few people speak and you just spend quiet prayer and where everything is kind of spiritually anchored, it’s much richer. And it also leads to more charity, you know, toward others – especially toward others you may disagree with. I think it’s helped me, too, and I still have a ways to go.”

The theologians enjoyed the talk, one of them reflecting to the bishop that “I felt like I was there [at the synod]” thanks to the bishop’s “insightful and personal commentary.” 

Stacey Noem, an M.Div graduate who is now a professor of the practice and the director of human and spiritual formation for the M.Div program, told Today’s Catholic: “The opportunity to hear directly from a synod delegate so close to the conclusion of the assembly is an incredible gift. That our own local ordinary was a delegate is all the more special. We – the M.Div program and department of theology at Notre Dame – value our relationship with Bishop deeply and are grateful for the time he invests in the ongoing formation of our students and fruitful exchange with our faculty.”